DIY fix on a dislocated (dominant hand) pinky

[melodious]

Thought I'd post it here before looking elsewhere for answers since most of us here are cyclists and have over the years acquired some real world wisdom from actual experience OR have learned and read from folks with real world experience. Well here goes my tale...

I dislocated my damn pinky yesterday. Within a few hours of this awful event, I managed to reach a bar, clean my wound and tend to my poor pinky with an ice bathe to reduce the swelling, followed by 2 drafts of beer. The ice reduced the swelling some but not all.

It's been 24 hours now, I took an advil before I went to bed. Woke up, cleaned my yard of water bugs, and realized my pinky is still swollen. In fact, it's more swollen now. I can move it and it has motion, but it's very stiff. Should I seek professional medical advice?

 

[Drunkskunk]

Should I seek professional medical advice?

When in doubt, Yes. ER time for you, Sir. It could be nothing, it could just be broken, or it could some kind of joint damage that won't heal without drugs/surgery/proper care.

 

[eva-michael]

This kind of wrench is always more swelling in second day.
I will suggest you to see a doctor and make a treatment. Becauase this will take much shorter to recover. It's my personal experience on my ankle and wist. My left ankle leaves me some old trouble..........

 

[The fingers]

Hand surgery is a very specialized form of medicine, requiring skill and expertise. Take it from the fingers. :wink:

 

[melodious]

Oh, I forgot to mention. I'm a cheapo. The less hassles the better. The two of you are suggesting I see a doctor. But here I am typingaway.org. Doctors cost moolah. Please CODA to el cheapo rule #1.

I want a 3rd opinion lol

edit: still want a 3rd opinion because Mr fingers isn't exactly giving me directions lol

 

[melodious]

If I'm going to get the work done on them, I want titanium pins.
[youtube]EXv8JVbqwao[/youtube]

 

[Harold in CR]

Grab it with the other hand and give it a BIG jerk. If it doesn't come off, it should be fine, even if a little crooked ??

You never detailed HOW you dis? located it ?

 

[melodious]

I like to slide around in the grass. Slid too far into an arch I couldn't control. My pinky went sideways for less than a minute loL In my mind I think I'm fine, but who the hell knows. All done at less than motorcycle speeds of course.

Edit: more like 10-15 seconds*

 

[The fingers]

You can always try ice to reduce swelling then tape it between two popsicle sticks for 4 weeks. That's what Dr. Daisy Moses would likely suggest.

 

[liveforphysics]

My strategy is always to ignore things like that. Tell the body its fine and be becomes fine. Convince yourself a little swelling means something bad and it likely will be.

Works for me (at least most of the time).

 

[Sancho's Horse]

Take a picture and post it. Go to the doctor if in doubt. Otherwise tape it to another finger and move on.

 

[Dauntless]

I've had the pinky dislocated. Amazing how much something so small can hurt. If you're feeling collateral pains in your wrist, forearm, elbow, it WAS caused by the finger injury, but not anymore. Now those pains are AGRAVATING the finger pain. You want to ice the whole thing. I remember that icepick that seemed to be stuck halfway up my forearm parallel to the pinky and how the elbow got tight when the pick felt like it was pressing in deeper. . . .

Some people takes lots of aspirin to fight swelling, but that destroys your stomach.

Ginger, on the other hand, is anti-inflammatory and easy on the stomach. You go to Yoshinoya, pile the red stuff that looks like beets on a chicken teriyaki bowl, then go to work on fixing your finger.

You could go to the health food store and pick up a bottle of turmeric, I think it is spelled.

A rolfer might actually make it go away quick, but that's going to be a painful session when they work on something swelling and in pain at the time. Then again, you don't sound like you're a baby about it, probably not a worry. http://rolf.org/find

 

[melodious]

I think its been about at least 5 days since my dislocation of my pinky. It's still swollen, but not as much anymore. I haven't sought out medical treatment. I think it was the right choice. I believe, with time, the swelling will go away. Otherwise, I could approach just treating the swelling of the joint via OTC stuff like dauntless suggests.

Or like LFP says, just meditate the problem away. :lol:

 

[iamsofunny]

if you can still bend your pinky and the bones are not obviously snapped, then worst case is probably frayed tendon and fracture, which doesn't really matter for a barely useful finger. You can search frayed tendon surgery on YT and they go in there and mush it together with a tool. I'd rather just wait a couple weeks and see if it gets better.

 

[Ch00paKabrA]

I remember, fondly, years ago when I had a little get-off on my R1 up on palomar mountain in CA. Decreasing radius turn, I point fixated on the turn instead of the exit. I dislocated my shoulder and hip when I went over the High side and they popped back in when I hit the ground. Talk about pain!!!!! After the shock wore off, I was immobile. Sometimes, I think dislocations are worse than breaks.

If you did, indeed dislocate it, then advil and a splint is really all you need. Go to Walgreens or rit-aid and buy a splint for like $2.00 and tape it snugly but not tightly. make sure the splint is curved and 1 piece of tape per section of finger. if it is broken, that is all they will do anyway. If you feel the need to spend some of your hard earned $$$ on an X-Ray, then by all means, go to the ER, but that is all they will do. If you did soft tissue damage, then it will still hurt in about a week. At THAT point, I would suggest a doctor, but stay away from the ER. They will just do a quick patch job and get you out of there as quickly as possible. they will definitely NOT do a CT scan at this point so I would just splint it and wait and see.

Or you could just grow a set and bite it off and be done with it Nancy-pants!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: